As is known in the art, baseball and softball players often use a batting tee to practice hitting a ball. The batter places the ball on the tee and takes a practice swing to strike the ball. Some conventional batting tees include posts of a relatively rigid material that tend to deform, e.g., bend, over time due to contact with a bat, and thus, have limited durability. In addition, these tees can damage a bat striking the post in the case of a miss hit. These types of tees also tend to tip over when the bat strikes the post.
Another known type of tee 10 is shown in FIG. 1. The tee 10 includes a rigid post 12 with a ball holder 14 at one end and a spring 16 at the other end. The spring 16 is secured to a base 18. In the case of a miss hit of the ball, the bat can strike the post 12 causing the spring 16 to flex. However, the post continues to move back and forth for a significant length of time, such as in the order of minutes. The batter must grab the post and steady it before placing another ball on the holder 14.
It should be noted that the spring is not used in the manner in which springs are fabricated to operate. That is, springs are made for compression and extension along a longitudinal axis. While a spring will flex about a point along its axis, the spring is not compressed in an axial manner as intended. In addition, the spring requires a significant amount of time to return to its quiescent state. That is, the spring continues to bounce back and forth about the pivot point.